IEA: Can you tell us what made you pursue a career in economics?

Juanita: Equal parts luck and interest! After graduating from high school, I had to select a major in my application to study at my alma mater, Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). I had always loved learning math and literature at school, but my parents thought I should major in an area they thought would have a broader range of job options. Economics was the compromise, but it ended up being my passion! It led me to New York, where I had always dreamed of living, for my graduate finance and economics studies at Columbia University. Today, I live in London, where I continue to study these areas at the London School of Economics. So, in a way, I combined the subjects that I loved learning as a young woman in Colombia into a globe-trotting career I love!

IEA: A lot of your research focuses on understanding entrepreneurship and firm growth. Can you tell us briefly what you have learned from this work on the kind of ecosystems that are most conducive to firm dynamism?

Juanita: A critical insight from my research is that capability gaps constitute a significant growth obstacle for businesses, especially in developing countries. Some entrepreneurs cannot transform their ideas into sustainable companies because they lack sufficient capabilities, for example, business know-how. This growth obstacle has become more prevalent in recent decades as the substantial decline in the costs of developing new technologies has attracted more inexperienced entrepreneurs to start businesses. Business accelerators and seed funds have emerged to systemize these entrepreneurs’ screening, training, and sometimes funding. They play an essential role in ecosystems by filtering and supporting the most promising candidates before these entrepreneurs seek more specialized financing like traditional venture capital.